Lithuania and Ireland: unity is key to addressing EU challenges today

On 12 February, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius and the Irish Minister of State with special responsibility for Equality, Immigration and Integration David Stanton participated in a panel discussion “Forging Partnerships: Ireland and Lithuania in the EU27” that was organized by the University College Cork.

“Ireland is a country that is friendly to Lithuania. Our countries have similarities in historical experiences and face similar challenges that are common to small EU member states. Further development success of our two countries is determined by the EU’s success. Therefore, our solidarity is more important than ever in addressing Europe’s political, security and economic challenges of today,” said the Foreign Minister Linkevičius and emphasized that the world’s 3rd largest Lithuanian community was in Ireland. According to him, the Lithuanian community is also well integrated and valued by the local population.

Lithuania’s Foreign Minister and members of delegations of Kaunas city municipality, Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) and the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences met with representatives of the local government and University. The officials agreed that Kaunas and Cork would start to cooperate closely. VMU and University College Cork signed a cooperation agreement. In addition, the educational institutions of the two cities – Kaunas in service teacher training centre and Cork Education Support Centre – will soon launch their cooperation.

Lithuania’s Foreign Minister will also attend a commemorative event to mark the centenary of the restoration of the State of Lithuania in Dublin.